He guided the Rams to a top-six finish in the Championship this season and now he is tasked with launching a promotion challenge with Stoke, who have been relegated after 10 seasons in the top flight.

Asked if the situation at Stoke is different to what he has been in before, Rowett told the Stoke Sentinel: "In some ways. There was probably less expectation at Birmingham City but we went in and had some success, depending on what you define as success, to go from 22 to 10 very, very quickly and stay in the top 10 effectively.

"At Derby, there was probably more expectation.

"Publicly I’ve spoken about going in there (Derby) at the end of a regime when there was quite a bit of money spent.

"But I had a fantastic time there with fans and the people who work there.

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"This is a new challenge and any manager will say that sometimes it’s those new challenges that you want, those are the things I like, they are the things that motivate me: to go into an uncomfortable scenario where you’ve got to be tested – and you have to deliver.

"I’ve no problem with that because that’s management, that’s what I enjoy doing and that’s exactly why I’m here.

"This is a big challenge but it’s a challenge I can already see that everybody wants to align to and work together on."

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